


The Roommate

by WhatWouldLilyDo



Series: Extra Fresh Mints [8]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Living Together, M/M, Moving In Together, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 12:22:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11532123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatWouldLilyDo/pseuds/WhatWouldLilyDo
Summary: FiveSix times Nursey and Dex share a room/bed and one time they decide not to.(It's more like ... the time they start rooming together, then 5 times they share a bed, and then the +1)





	The Roommate

**Author's Note:**

> Nurseydex week prompt #2: Bedsharing/Room sharing
> 
> Set throughout the frogs' first year, in the [Fresh](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9337325) universe where they are roommates in freshman year as well. So bits will line up a little bit to events in Fresh, but this does for the most part stand alone. It probably will all make a lot more sense by the end of this week though, because these ficlets are all getting posted in the most random order ever thanks to the way I've sorted them out for the prompts.
> 
> Explicit sexual content in the second section (labelled #1), but none in the rest of it. That scene does contain someone making an assumption about another character's experience which leads to some lack of communication which otherwise should have happened. It's dubious if one of them is doing it for the right reasons. Also, uh... sex is messy?

_**Moving In - August 12th** _

* * *

 

***Nursey***

 

Derek spent half the journey up to Samwell on the phone to his mom.

“You drove me to Andover every time I didn’t drive myself, you don’t have to feel bad about missing today,” he said for what must have been the fifteenth time. “I’ll see you for family weekend?”

“You will, but I’m still your mother, and I want to be there for you.”

There was a soft smile on Derek’s face. He glanced over at his ma, whose eyes were crinkled up in that fond look she reserved for Leila, Derek, and their mom. “Really, I’m fine. Ma’ll make sure I’m all settled in. I’ll Facetime you the tour later. You won’t miss anything.”

“Daruk, I need you to check where the office is,” his ma whispered as she navigated the car through the campus.

“Mom, I have to go. We’re here. I love you.”

“Good luck, Diri!”

When the call was disconnected, Derek brought up the campus map and zoomed in to find where they needed to go.

“You go in, I’ll stay with the car. We might want to move it when we know where your dorm is,” his ma told him, in Gujarati, when they finally pulled up outside the student office.

The boy in the office was friendly, though he did ask a couple of questions that had Derek plastering on a fake smile. When he handed over everything for the dorm, Derek drove the conversation away from his summer, and back to Samwell.

“So who’s in my suite with me?”

“All I have here is a list of names, not their sports. I can tell you that you’re in a three room suite and there’s six of you, so you’ll all be sharing a room with someone else. Do you know anyone else who’s coming here?”

“I know the names of a couple of the other hockey players. Uh… Chow and Poindexter.”

The boy looked down at the list. “There’s a William Poindexter here. No Chow. Uh… Looks like all the others you’re with are girls. They normally do try and get people of the same sport together, so either there’s enough hockey players in freshman dorms this year for them to split you, or Chow’s been assigned a different sort of room.”

Derek nodded. It was Chowder that he had got to know better so far, and he didn’t know much about Dex. He remembered they rubbed each other the wrong way a little at the tour, but he had put that down to worry over competing for a place on the team. Now that they were both here, he hoped they would become good friends. After all, it made the most sense for the coaches to partner the two new freshmen together.

“See you around maybe?” the boy said as Derek started to gather up his things. “Hey, if you ever need anything—” He scribbled a phone number onto the corner of a campus map which he then put into the welcome pack. Derek smiled and thanked him, though he was holding back a laugh. He knew there was no chance of him adding that number to his phone.  
  


***Dex***

 

Will hadn’t been able to persuade Brian to take him further than Portland, and so he found himself on the train to Boston with a massive suitcase, a hiking backpack and his hockey kit bag. All he could think was that the upside to constant moving from place to place meant that he could fit all his belongings into the three bags. Even with the amount he had accumulated over the past year, it wasn’t too much of a struggle shifting it all off at Boston and dragging it to where he had to get the shuttle to Samwell’s campus. When he got to the student accommodation office, he was faced with the dilemma of whether it was okay to leave everything at the side while he joined the line to get his room key.

“Hi there! You can leave your bags there, just come on over here. I need to see some ID.” A second girl came to the desk. She was far too enthusiastic for Will’s current mood. He gave her his driving license and waited for her to find him in their system.

“Brilliant! Thank-you, William. Here’s your welcome pack, student ID, your dining pass, and your keys. You’ll be in block B, in suite number 2. The athlete’s dining hall opens tomorrow from six thirty a.m. and is here.” She drew a couple of circles on a campus map, and handed it over with everything else. Will tried not to wince at the pen marking.

Will pulled his luggage over to the block, where a lady who was clearly the mother of another new student held the door open for him.

“I get my son to help,” she told him when one of his bags caught on the doorframe, and before Will could argue, she was shouting in a foreign language. Someone appeared from one of the rooms closest to the door, responding in the same language, but when he saw Will, he stopped.

“It’s you! Hey, you’re in my room. Ma, this is Dex. Dex, my ma.”

“Call me Anika. Or Aunty.”

Will felt himself tense up. His first impression of Derek Nurse hadn’t been good and now he had to not only pretend to be happy he was moving in with him, but do so in front of the boy’s mother?

“Oh, fuck, right, sorry, you need help bringing shit in.”

“Derek Malik Nurse, watch your language,” his ma scolded him. Nursey looked surprisingly sheepish.

“Sorry, ma.” He took the suitcase off Will and led the way into the suite. “Nobody else is here, yet, but I’m assuming they’re all a different sport? Chowder’s not in with us, anyway. Apparently all the others are girls.”

Will held back both a groan over Chowder not being there, as the only real friend he had already made at Samwell, and a curse when Nursey took him to a room which had both their names tacked to the door, and twin beds inside. There were bags and boxes piled up in the middle of the room, and another bag lying on one of the beds.

“I hope it’s okay me claiming that one. I liked the idea of my bed being right by the door, but if—”

“No, that’s perfect,” Will said. The room was nicely divided in two so that they had half the room each, and neither of them would have to worry about the other disrupting them while they were working just by walking in and out of the room. Will’s desk had the window over it, so he would have control over the shutters, and whether or not the window was open.

“Daruk, my taxi will be here in less than ten minutes, are you okay if I leave to take your car round to the parking lot? Do you need me to make your bed or anything first?” Nursey’s mother stood in the doorway.

“You can go, ma,” Nursey said, then finished his sentence off in another language, which she responded to in kind. She nodded politely at Will, then left.

“What language is that?” Will asked curiously when she had gone. He didn’t look over at Nursey as he said it, instead opting to deal with his suitcase.

“Gujarati.”

“Are you Indian?”

Nursey made a funny sound which made Will look up from the bedsheets he was in the process of fitting over his mattress.

“I’m American. Born and raised in Manhattan.”

“Okay, but…”

“Yeah, I know what you’re trying to say.” His voice was suddenly hard. “If you must know, ma’s from India, and on the other side I’m Black. Family from Somalia, but even that is complicated. Other than speaking Gujarati with ma’s side of the family, I’m more in with the Black community, and then being biracial…” He trailed off with a shrug, as if it was something that spoke for itself. Will didn’t understand, but turned back to his bed without pressing any further.

 

***Nursey***

 

Derek turned his attention on his own unpacking. Dex had gone quiet, and it was hard to tell if it was because of Derek’s outburst, or because he was unsure how to make small talk. Either way, Derek was eager to start emptying one of the bags of clothes into his closet without paying too much attention to what was happening on the other side of the room, if it meant no more awkward conversation. The problem was, even though Dex hadn’t really had a good word to say to Derek yet, he couldn’t stop noticing him. His eyes were a color Derek had never seen before, and his skin was an explosion of freckles. Derek had to pause what he was doing to get the notebook he wrote poetry ideas into.

He was still writing, his thoughts having moved from his new roommate to musings he'd had during the drive from New York, when Dex cleared his throat. “Uh… I know you’ve got a lot there, but is there any chance you’re going to finish unpacking some time before dinner? Only it’s all in the middle of the floor, and I want to see if there’s a vacuum I can run round.”

Derek looked up from his notebook and at Dex’s side of the room, where all his bags were already unpacked, and his belongings were put away inexplicably neatly. Derek knew he had probably lost track of time a little bit while he had been distracted with writing, but there was no chance it had been any longer than ten minutes. Four years of boarding school hadn’t prepared him for someone who wanted the room clean and tidy so soon. “Sure. Um, are you funny about mess? I can not be messy, but I’d like to know. You know?”

Dex tensed and relaxed again so quickly Derek wondered if he had imagined it. “I prefer it to be clean, but I’m used to sharing a room with my brother. Just… if you can keep it on your side, and pick your clothes up off the floor before you go out, we should be okay.”

He didn’t look convinced that it would really be enough for him, but Derek smiled and nodded. “Sure, I can do that.”

With all his other things unpacked, Dex now sat at his desk and was going through his welcome pack. He put the pen in his pen pot and the free condoms in a neat stack on the side of his desk that was serving as a bedside table. Derek watched as he looked at one piece of paper with a disgusted look and threw it into the waste paper basket.

“Was that your campus map?” Derek asked with an amused smirk.

“You’re still not unpacking?” Dex returned. Derek looked around, a little surprised to find that he had, indeed, stopped unpacking again and was sat on his bed, a pillowcase in one hand and a pack of pens in the other, watching Dex.

“Huh. I got distracted. How are you going to find your way around?”

Dex shrugged. “I’ll figure it out. I can’t use that, the person at the offices graffitied all over it.”

Derek chuckled. “I knew I shouldn’t feel special about him giving his number out. I bet he was for all the hot guys.” He shook his head, and finally turned back to his bag, pulling out a jumble of jeans to shove into a drawer. Only when he went to get some t-shirts did he notice that Dex was staring at him, frozen in the same position as before. “What?”

“I— Nobody gave me their number. What do you—?”

“Oh. The guy at the office put his number on my map. That’s not what you meant?”

Dex shook his head slowly. “The girl who gave me mine circled a ton of things. I suppose she thought it would be helpful, but I can’t—” He bit on his lip.

“Oh. Well, you can use mine. We can share.”

“Didn’t you just say someone put their number on it?”

“It’s on the edge, it doesn’t cover the actual map, and I’m not going to ring it. He’s not my type.”

Dex squirmed awkwardly, but Derek tried to ignore him as he piled more clothes, unceremoniously, into his closet.

“I can’t believe you called me hot, man. That’s so—”

“Don’t.” Derek span around to stare at him. “I know what you were about to say and don’t say it. Don’t say things like that. And I do find some guys hot, and maybe just take the compliment without having to read anything into it, okay? We can play together. It doesn’t mean anything.” Except, of course, that Derek could count on one hand the number of people for whom he’d wanted to act on any feelings of attraction. Dex didn’t need to know that part. Derek took a deep breath as he carried on with his unpacking. He just needed to chill out and look for some chirps to lighten the mood with Dex.

 

***Dex***

  
Will closed his eyes and sat back in his desk chair. Of course he had known before arriving at Samwell that it was a liberal college and that it had a reputation for being LGBT friendly. That didn’t mean that he had expected the first person he met to not only be LGBT, but to talk casually about being hit on by another guy and then proceed to call  _ Will  _ hot. It was almost too good to be true, but at the same time he was already realizing how difficult it was going to be to keep up his walls. His hand started to shake, and all he really needed right now was to clean up, but Nursey’s things were still scattered across the floor. Moving suddenly enough that Nursey startled, he got up and crossed over to the bathroom to see what cleaning products there were there. They were severely lacking in some departments, but Will figured it would be better to wait until everyone had moved in to bring it up, to see what other people might have brought with them and so that they could all chip in to pay for it. In the meantime, he gave the shower a rinse, scrubbed the sink out and poured some cheap bleach into the toilet. The longer he cleaned, the calmer he felt, and the easier it was to forget about Nursey in the other room, and how they were supposed to share a room for the whole year.

 

* * *

####  _**1.** _

_**(August 16th-17th)** _

* * *

 

***Nursey***

The truth was, Derek was horny. It felt unbelievably blunt to admit such a thing, even to himself, but it had been an awfully long time since he had last got himself off, because it had never been something he was very good at. He could appreciate and admire people aesthetically, and he could even go as far as to say that he might be a little attracted to some of them, but the feeling was never really strong enough to use as an image while he touched himself. He usually ended up working himself up into a frustrated knot of tension which wouldn’t release, and not being able to find anything that would push him over the edge. He suspected that having another person help him out would solve his problems, but as he looked around the Haus at this, his first kegster of college, he couldn’t bring himself to approach anybody. Nobody appealed to him, and he felt repulsed by the idea of being with anybody whom he didn’t know and trust.

So, he drank and hoped it would make him either want it less or able to sort it out.

When he and Dex stumbled back to their dorm later on, and he still felt his skin growing warm under Dex’s accidental touches, he wasn’t sure what to do. Dex was one of those people he had appreciated aesthetically, but the guy clearly had some issues with liberalism and sexuality. As for whether he was someone Derek could trust, that was debatable. Derek had drunk too much to let himself overthink it, though. They almost fell through the door to their room, and Dex grabbed onto Derek’s arms to stop him collapsing. Derek responded by leaning in for a kiss.

It was sloppy and nothing special, and Dex pulled away too soon, but Derek still found himself groaning in want.

“We’re too drunk for this,” Dex told him.

“God, come on, please. If we’re drunk we can blame it on that when we regret it later.”

Dex chuckled. “I’m not doing this when you’re drunk. Trust me, I want to, and having that to blame it on sounds great, but it’s not right.”

Derek felt a twinge in his stomach. Those sounded like the words of someone who maybe he could trust. He pulled on the hem of Dex’s t-shirt, but Dex resisted.

“I’m serious, Nursey. Not when we’re—”

“Just sleep in my bed? Please?”

Dex considered it for a moment. “I’ll just… I’ll stay this side until you fall asleep?”

“You’ll stay all night,” Derek told him. “It’s okay.”

Sure enough, Dex fell asleep first, and neither of them tried to fight it.

***Dex***

Will groaned at the constant buzzing and beeping of two phones, slightly out of sync with each other as they received messages from the same group chat. He squeezed his eyes as shut as they would go in reaction to his headache, and reached out blindly for his phone. His hand collided with a wall.

“Chill,” came Nursey’s mumbled voice, and it was much too close to Will’s ear. Will sat up so fast that he saw spots, and as the covers fell away, he realized that they were both only wearing underwear.

“Why am I in your bed?” he asked, voice shaky.

Nursey cracked an eye open. “Nothing happened. We just kissed and cuddled a bit. Go back to sleep.”

“I can’t fucking—” Will wanted to scream when their phones cut him off. He practically threw himself over Nursey to grab his own off the floor, and lay across his stomach as he scrolled the messages.

> SMH Group  
>    
>  **Lardo** (11:21)  
>  morning motherfuckers  
>    
>  **Holster** (11:24)  
>  no  
>  go back to sleep  
>    
>  **Jack** (11:25)  
>  It is nearly 11.30. Don’t go back to sleep.  
>    
>  **Bitty** (11:25)  
>  Lord Jack, just because you were up at 7am doesn’t mean the rest of us didn’t have fun last night.  
>    
>  **Jack** (11:25)  
>  I had fun  
>    
>  **Lardo** (11:26)  
>  bro, when shits and i came out to the reading room you were watching the same breaking bad episode i’ve seen you watch 3 times in the past week  
>    
>  **Bitty** (11:27)  
>  Good Lord  
>    
>  **Jack** (11:28)  
>  It’s a good episode.  
>    
>  **Holster** (11:29)  
>  I’m gonna kill you assholes  
>    
>  **Dex** (11:30)  
>  I'm going to help Holster.  
> 

“Let it go,” Nursey sighed. Will flinched when he felt a hand running through his hair. “You’re too tense, Dexy. Last night was— It doesn’t have to mean anything, but maybe it would be good to get it out the system, you know? Before we build up some weird sexual tension. We could fuck and go back to hating each other in peace if you wanted. I'd be up for that.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal.

Will glared down at his phone, ignoring him.

> SMH Group  
>    
>  **Bitty** (11:31)  
>  No murder.  
>    
>  **Jack** (11:31)  
>  No murder.  
>    
>  **Wicks** (11:32)  
>  Woah, Jack and Bitty being all in-sync is weird. Only Ollie and I are allowed that.  
>    
>  **Holster** (11:33)  
>  I beg your pardon?  
>    
>  **Nursey** (11:34)  
>  chill guys

It took Will a moment to realize who had sent the message. He glanced up at Nursey who was looking down at him, his phone in one hand.

“I don’t want to.”

“Fine if you don’t. There's no pressure either way. But your cock’s right by my hip, so don’t be surprised if I don’t really believe you.”

Will’s cheeks burned. “You know that doesn’t even mean anything, you dick? Someone can be hard and still not want sex.” The only thing was, the longer he looked at Nursey, the harder he got. However much he told himself that he didn’t want to sleep with his roommate, he knew it was a lie, and maybe Nursey was right that it would get it out their system better than ignoring the sexual tension would.

Nursey sighed. “I— Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. Look, I’m just saying I’m still up for it if you are. We’re not drunk anymore.”

Will frowned and stared back at his screen. Nursey let out a low chuckle. The sound had Will pressing his hips into the mattress, and he could feel an unspoken chirp in the way that Nursey’s hand moved to rub his back.

> SMH Group  
>    
>  **Holster** (11:35)  
>  I will not chill while wicky is attacking the holsom drift compatibility like this  
>    
>  **Wagner** (11:35)  
>  You did not just refer to you and rans as holsom  
>    
>  **Holster** (11:36)  
>  please, wags, like you never called you and your brother “the sopranos” before he graduated.  
>  not only are you showing disgraceful ignorance about a classic tv drama, an incredible composer, and vocal ranges  
>  but it’s also never going to have anything on holsom  
>    
>  **Wicks** (11:37)  
>  Ya, keep telling yourself that  
>    
>  **Dex** (11:37)  
>  Please.  
>  Fucking.  
>  Stop.  
>    
>  **Wagner** (11.38)  
>  I can hit two octaves above middle C  
>    
>  **Nursey** (11:38)  
>  Dex, chill

Will dropped his phone back onto the floor and moved himself up Nursey’s chest. “You’re so frustrating,” he told him, and he hovered above him, with one raised eyebrow. Nursey nodded, in answer to his unspoken question, and they both closed the gap between their lips simultaneously. There was the bliss of silence from their phones as they made out, no slow ease-in, but all mouths and tongues and grinding of hips in desperation. By the time their phones started going again, Will had his hand on Nursey’s cock, and the beeps and buzzes didn’t bother him anymore.

“Can I suck you?” He didn’t think it sounded like his own voice, and perhaps Nursey agreed, because looked surprised to hear the words.

“Yeah. Fuck, yeah.”

There was one of the free condoms they had all been given on moving in on Nursey’s desk, so Will grabbed that while Nursey kicked his boxers off, and then he settled back down between his legs. Their eyes locked just before Will rolled the condom down, then he followed his hand with his lips until he couldn’t take any more.

“Shit,” Nursey groaned. His hips were straining not to push up into the sensation.

Will pulled his head back until he had just the head between his lips, and swirled his tongue around with the slight clumsiness that came from a long time’s lack of practice.

_ Crew Love  _ started playing.

“Shit,” repeated Nursey, though now his eyes were on his phone.

“Ignore it,” Will said, then swallowed down again. He bobbed his head up and down, finding himself a rhythm.

“It’s— Ah fuck, Dex — It’s Ransom.”

Will didn’t lift his head to respond. He just sent Nursey a glare that went completely missed because Nursey had closed his eyes.

“That’s so good,” Nursey breathed, and his hand came back to Will’s hair, fingers gripping tightly. Will moaned and swallowed a little deeper. The phone rang off, and a moment later beeped to indicate a message. Will grabbed onto Nursey’s free hand and pressed it into the mattress, their fingers gripping onto each other tightly. Urged on by Nursey’s hold on his hair, he experimented with getting his lips a little further every time he lowered his head.

“I’m gonna— Shit, Dex. I'm sorry. It's too soon.”

Will slowed down a little, but now that he had a rhythm stopping seemed too difficult. He raised his eyes to meet Nursey’s.

“Are you sure?” Nursey asked, breathlessly. “Fuck.” 

Seconds later, latex was expanding in Will’s mouth. He pulled away and stroked Nursey through the aftershocks.

“That was amazing,” Nursey said while Will threw the condom away and crawled back into bed next to him. “Give me a minute and I’ll return the favor.” He grabbed his phone and tapped something out, then threw it unceremoniously across the room and rolled on top of Will. They made out for another few minutes until Nursey pulled on Will’s briefs and rolled them down. Will helped him throw them to the floor. He bucked his hips into Nursey’s hand, moans of pleasure falling freely from his lips.

“Wait,” Nursey said, and he dropped his hand away to a groan of protest from Will. “I could— Fuck. Will you fuck me?”

Will hesitated. He was pretty meticulous about cleaning rituals before going that far, but his cock ached at the suggestion. “Are you clean?”

“Yeah, but I didn't mean without a condom anyway.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Not that sort of clean. I mean your ass.”

***Nursey***

 

Derek wasn’t sure how to answer. It hadn’t occurred to him that any cleaning would be necessary. It certainly had never been mentioned in any of the smut he had read when he was trying to explore his sexuality, or lack thereof. All he knew was that there was an ache for Dex he had never felt before and he wanted to push himself far enough that he would  _ know  _ once and for all if he could feel normal.

“Would I suggest it if I wasn’t?” he finally said, quirking an eyebrow. Surely it didn’t matter that much, and Dex probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Dex hesitated a moment. “Can we do it in the shower?”

That worked. Derek didn't reply. He just grabbed another condom, a bottle of lube, and Dex’s hand to pull him out of bed.

Once they were under the warm flow of water, Will turned Derek to face the shower wall, hands pressed against it for support as he worked his fingers inside him. It was a new sensation, but with Will’s hands slick from lube, Derek was surprised to find it didn’t hurt, other than a slight pinch when he added a second finger. After the initial  _ ‘This okay?’ _ , they fell silent, other than the occasional,  _ “Fuck, yes,” _ from Derek when Will’s fingers hit the right spot, and some devastated moans from Will.

“So good for me,” Will breathed.

Derek shivered. “No don't—”

He whined as Will pulled his hand away slowly, and held it under the running water to wash it. “Are you okay?”

Derek moaned. “Don't fucking pull out you asshole. I'm not fucking  _ good  _ for you.”

Will hissed. “Okay. Fuck, okay. Are you okay for me to carry on?”

“God, Dex, I might burst out my skin if you don't. I'm fucking ready. Fuck me.”

He turned and pressed his back against the tiles his hands had just been against and brought one leg over Will's hip, to pull him close as Will reached for the condom.

“Are you—” Will frowned, the condom only half rolled out.

“For fuck’s sake, Poindexter.” Derek grabbed the lube and spread it over Will’s cock himself, pushing the condom into place as he did.

“Ah— Please just humor me here. Are you sure you're ready?”

Derek felt empty without him, and let out a whimper of desire. “Yes. Please, fuck me. God, Will,  _ please. _ ”

Will bit on his lip, then moved to cup Derek’s ass, as he spread some fresh lube over his with one hand, and Derek’s hole with the other. Derek’s hands scrambled on Will’s shoulders to find somewhere to hold onto when he felt him press inside him. He had to remind himself to breathe. Will shifted under the shower head to make sure that neither of them was at risk of slipping, then he pressed a light kiss to Derek’s jaw. “Okay?”

Derek clenched his teeth together for a moment, blinking against watering eyes. “Mm… Just slow, I think. I— It’s a bit—”

“You’re still tight.”

“It’s good.”

“Derek—”

“Seriously. Just start slow, but I need you exactly where you are.”

Will moaned at the words. He rocked his hips back, held for a second and eased forwards again, then repeated the motion until Derek was used to the sensation. A minute later, he was breathing heavily into his ear, begging for him to speed up.

After a bit, Will slid a hand between them to wrap it around Derek, but Derek pushed his hand away. “It’s okay. I’m not going to come again. This is all for you.”

Will’s forehead fell against Derek’s as he let go with a loud cry. Derek braced himself against the wall, wrapped an arm around Will and held their wet bodies together until the trembles of pleasure subsided.

After what felt like an age, Will pulled away. “Okay that’s gross,” he muttered, and Derek looked down to see a smear across the condom, He stepped forwards so that he was under the shower, suspecting that there was more mess he couldn’t see. “You’re dealing with that and later we’re having a talk about what you think qualifies as clean enough for sex,” Will told him.

Derek bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. Maybe it did matter, after all. He tied the spent condom up and stepped out the shower long enough to drop into the bin. When he climbed back in, Will was already rubbing shower gel over his body. Though the space in the shower was small enough that they continued to brush against each other, they cleaned themselves up and passed the soap between them in complete silence. Will went to step out of the shower, and Derek picked up his shampoo.

***Dex***

Leaving Derek to wash his hair, Will brushed his teeth in silence, then went back into the bedroom, wrapped in a towel and praying none of their suitemates were around. As soon as he was dressed and had cleared away their mess from earlier, he retrieved his phone and flicked the screen on. He was surprised to see that it was nearly 12:30.

> SMH Group  
>    
>  **Holster** (11.39)  
>  wait really  
>  wft wags how  
>  you’re having me on  
>    
>  **Wagner** (11.40)  
>  I’m just that good~  
>    
>  **Holster** (11:45)  
>  it’s been quiet a while you didn’t murder nursey did you dex?  
>    
>  **Ransom** (11:48)  
>  guys holtzys getting worried  
>  n please say smth  
>  i tried ringing and hes not picking up???  
>    
>  **Nursey** (11:57)  
>  chill i’m alive   
>    
>  **Lardo** (12:02)  
>  so bitty do we get pancakes?  
>    
>  **Ransom** (12:04)  
>  hes in the shower  
>    
>  **Bitty** (12:13)  
>  No?  
>    
>  **Lardo** (12:15)  
>  rude, bro, when we know you’re up and everything  
>    
>  **Jack** (12:17)  
>  Pre-season’s starting.  
>    
>  **Lardo** (12:17)  
>  so?  
>    
>  **Jack** (12:18)  
>  So diet plans.  
>    
>  **Ransom** (12:20)  
>  so  
>    
>  **Bitty** (12:22)  
>  [img.653]  
>  I’ve never seen him look this red  
>    
>  **Ollie** (12:23)  
>  Wicks and I’ll be at the Haus in 3 minutes so that picture better have been taken while you were getting pancake stuff out the fridge  
>    
>  **Lardo** (12:23)  
>  seconded  
>  ill be there about 23 seconds after o+w  
>    
>  **Wicks** (12:24)  
>  What makes you say that?  
>    
>  **Lardo** (12:24)  
>  that’s how far behind you i am.  
>    
>  **Ollie** (12:26)  
>  So Lardo’s been following us for 3 blocks apparently  
>    
>  **Dex** (12:28)  
>  You’re all ridiculous.  
>    
>  **Shitty** (12:28)  
>  I know, isn’t it great?  
>  I love you motherfuckers so much  
>    
>  **Holster** (12:29)  
>  SHITTY  
>    
>  **Ransom** (12:29)  
>  HE’S AWAKE  
>    
>  **Holster** (12:29)  
>  HE’S ALIVE  
>    
>  **Ransom** (12:30)  
>  brah, we missed you sfm.  
>    
>  **Dex** (12:31)  
>  Talking of people sleeping late.  
>  Has anyone heard from Chowder today?  
>    
>  **Lardo** (12:31)  
>  no

Nursey returned without even wearing a towel, which was distracting to say the least.

“Uh… Did you get any texts from Chowder?” Will asked, his voice slightly strangled in an attempt to pass it off as normal for him to hook up with guys he was expected to live and play with.

It took Nursey a while to find his phone.

“No.”

> SMH Group  
>    
>  **Ransom** (12:32)  
>  can’t say im surprised  
>    
>  **Bitty** (12:32)  
>  Oh no! I hope he’s okay.  
>  Do you think I should go and check on him?  
>    
>  **Nursey** (12:33)  
>  he’s fine  
>    
>  **Dex** (12:34)  
>  He doesn’t know that, he just said he hadn’t texted him.  
>    
>  **Nursey** (12:34)  
>  he hasn’t, I’m just saying he’s probably still asleep  
>  hungover but fine  
>    
>  **Shitty** (12:35)  
>  Okay, froggies, come on over to the Haus, we’ve confiscated Bitty’s phone to try and stop him worrying so now there’s pancakes and pie to eat. Nursey-friendly stuff included. 

Will and Derek avoided each other's eyes until they were both ready to leave.

“I can't believe how much of a farmer boy you look right now,” Nursey chirped on their way out. It was with a more awkward tone than usual, and Will guessed he had forced himself to find something to break the ice. 

“Yeah? Well if you're talking stereotypes you should take off the hipster cardigan.”

This felt comfortable and familiar. Will could cope with this being their new normal.

They were just passing the basketball house when their phones went off, still slightly out of sync with each other.

> SMH Group  
>    
>  **Chowder** (12:50)  
>  I’m fine. Was asleep. Omw to haus  
>    
>  **Bitty** (12:51)  
>  Oh thank the Lord, I was so worried

* * *

_**2.** _

_**(October 30th-31st)** _

* * *

 

The night before their first game, Will was rocked awake by the movement of his mattress, and he felt someone crawling under the covers with him. “S’up, Nursey?” he muttered.

“I couldn’t sleep again.”

After a small pause, Will shifted so that he could pull Nursey into his arms. This was unprecedented. Though Nursey had still been struggling a little with sleep, Will had just been making sure he was taking his pills, and that their sleep hygiene was good. It had been a couple of days, now, since he had found out the truth about Nursey’s insomnia, but they hadn’t talked much about it. Will had just been silently trying to show his support. Tonight was different, however; different enough that Will didn’t question Nursey being in his bed. Tonight, they needed to get sleep, even if that meant crossing a line Will had been trying to stay away from.

“Are you thinking about tomorrow’s game?” he asked, when it became apparent that Nursey hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

“A bit. I just hope we start the season off well.”

Will hummed in agreement. “Your parents are going to be there, too, right?”

“Yeah, but that’s okay. I’m looking forward to seeing them. It doesn’t make me nervous them being there.”

“When do they get here?”

“Oh. Just in time for the game. I probably won’t see them until Saturday? Maybe a little before the Halloween kegster.”

Something tightened in Will’s chest. It was never easy hearing people talk about their families, and getting to see their parents, but this time his envy made him ache. Even Dan wouldn’t be there. Nursey will have seen his sister and both his parents in a week, while Will’s brother didn’t even text to thank him for the birthday present.

“Sorry,” Nursey whispered. “Is this hard for you? Family weekend?”

For a moment, Will considered lying. After all, Nursey had his own issues to deal with, and they were all affecting him more immediately and directly than Will’s lack of people to come and watch a couple of hockey matches. Nursey’s fingers tracing circles on his shoulder, and his eyes softly watching Will’s face made it impossible to lie, though. Instead, he nodded.

Nursey pressed his lips to Will’s jaw. “I was going to invite you and Chowder to lunch with my parents on Saturday, but if that would be too much—”

“Do you want me there?” Will would have thought that Nursey’s invitation to Chowder was the only genuine one, and that his was just an act of politesse, but the look on Nursey’s face told him otherwise. The hesitation was only in whether it was insensitive for him to expect Will to go if it was going to bring back bad memories. “I’ll go. I mean, if you’re sure you want me there.”

"I want you there," Nursey assured him.

*

Will wasn’t sure at what point they had fallen asleep, but before he knew it there was sunlight seeping around the edges of the cheap blinds. His arm was numb under Nursey’s weight, and he couldn’t see the time from this angle.

“Nurse? Derek, wake up, I need to be able to feel my arm for the game.”

“Play one-handed.”

“Get up.”

Nursey rolled out of bed, eyes still half-closed but a smirk on his face. “You know if we win we'll have to sleep together before every game.”

“Ch’yeah right,” Will snorted. As if anyone really believed in those things.

“Do this again for the pre-game nap?”

Will had no idea how it was that the word “sure,” left his mouth, instead of “no”.

* * *

_**3.** _

_**(November 14th)** _

* * *

 

“I told Chowder I haven’t picked up on anything. We should probably figure out what you actually did in this time for if he asks later, though.”

Will groaned. The deal Nursey and Chowder had made to find his pre-game superstition was already annoying. “We could actually do something different?”

Nursey just smiled at him, and dipped his head down for a kiss. “You might be denying that you have any superstitions, but you can’t mess with my game by throwing mine.”

They didn’t have sex. Nursey had been adamant that they would never go that far, so that he would never feel obliged by his own pregame rituals to do something he wasn’t comfortable with. They had slept in the same bed the night before every game, though, and their naps were always cuddles and make-out sessions, rather than actual naps.

Will hooked his knee over Nursey’s hip and pushed so that they were lying side-by-side, lips sliding over each other lazily. “I think you’re just using it as an excuse,” he mumbled, after a moment. “This whole superstition thing. You just want to cuddle.”

Nursey gave a throaty chuckle. “Maybe I do. Gonna deny me either way, Poindexter?”

Will tucked his face into Nursey’s neck in response. “Okay, twenty minutes until we have to get up.”

“What are you going to tell C?”

“We came back for a nap. I don’t think he’d consider it a superstition if I actually napped.”

“Well, if that’s what the kids are calling it these days.”

Will snorted. “Shut up and try and get some rest. We’ve got a goddamn hockey game to play later.”

The cheap dorm mattress creaked under their weight when they cuddled closer, but neither of them minded, both calm in each other’s arms.

* * *

_**4.** _

_**(January 26th)** _

* * *

 

Derek cracked an eye open to see Will hopping from one foot to the other as he tried to get dressed with shaking hands.

“A bit cold, huh?” he asked. Dex scowled at him.

“This is why I wanted to fix the radiator myself. God knows the school won’t sort it out any time soon. We’re going to freeze to death.”

“Chill.”

“I’m already too chill, that’s the fucking problem,” Will replied, but there was no bite in his words. He finally managed to get his foot into his sweatpants. Derek could see the goosepimples over his pale thighs.

“Are you seriously going running?”

“No, Derek, I’m not going running. I have class in twenty minutes. Wearing jeans in this weather would be idiotic, and I’m not wearing hockey kit.”

Derek shrugged. He probably would have gone for the jeans. He turned his attention to his phone while Will rooted through his socks for a thicker pair. “You have class?” he asked after a second. Will frowned at him, and Derek shrugged. “Just mine are cancelled because of the blizzard. Did you check your emails?”

Will stared at him incredulously. He looked a little ridiculous in his sweatpants, a varsity jacket he had clearly pulled on to keep himself warm until he had found a shirt to wear, and one woolly sock, the other hanging from his little finger. “Classes are cancelled?” he asked, but he didn’t wait for an answer before he grabbed his phone to check for himself.

“Yeah, well, I’m going back to sleep now,” Derek said, rolling to face the wall. A second later, his mattress dipped, and an arm slid around his waist.

“Yeah, me too.” There was a pause, then Will’s hand tapped Derek on the stomach. “Hey, is this okay?”

Derek grabbed his hand and interlaced their fingers in response. “ Your hands are so fucking cold.”

“Our room is so fucking cold,” Will replied.

“All the more reason to stay in bed all day.”

* * *

_**5.** _

_**(February 21st)** _

* * *

 

For a while, Lardo had talked about splitting Derek and Will up in roadie hotels. She thought they were being either masochistic or superstitious to tell her just to keep them together, and Derek was fairly sure the only reason she didn’t ask was because it meant avoiding the potential awkwardness when Will inevitably asked why it was Derek always got put with Chowder. By the time they were dating, albeit secretly, she had stopped suggesting they go in separate rooms, and none of the team gave them a second look when she handed Will the keys to their room in Princeton.

Derek threw his bags on one of the beds, and pulled his prayer mat out of his rucksack. As per their usual routine, Will took the time while Derek was washing to unpack his things into the closet, then disappeared into the bathroom after Derek had started his prayers.

When he had folded his mat away, Derek turned to look at Will, sat reading his Spanish notes on the free bed. “What are you doing all the way over there?”

Will didn’t look up. “Reading.”

“I put my bags on this one.”

“And I can’t sit on a bed which has all your shit all over it. Seriously? We’re still having this conversation? It’s been five months.”

Derek groaned and made a point to drag his feet all the way over before collapsing on the end of the bed, his cheek lying on Will’s ankle.

“I hope you’re going to be a bit more active in three hours,” Will commented.

“Princeton can go fuck themselves. They didn’t have to sit in a bus for five hours.”

Will snorted, but otherwise his attention was completely taken by his homework. Derek waited, but it didn’t look like he was going to be getting any of that attention any time soon, so he finally crawled up so that his lips were next to Will’s ears. “Ven a dormir conmigo.”

“Why is your accent  _ Italian _ ?”

“Why are you always judging me? Not like your Spanish accent is any better, Señor Maine-ah de Améric-ah”

“That was one time,” Will grumbled, but he dropped his notes down next to his travel alarm clock and shuffled down to cuddle, so Derek treated it as a win.

“Did you set an alarm?”

Will rolled his eyes. “Of course I did. Stop acting stupid,” he said, and leaned in to peck Derek on the nose. Derek smiled back. He was really glad they had never let Lardo split them up.

* * *

####  _**+1.** _

_**April 22nd** _

* * *

 

 

Derek frowned at his boyfriend. Will had been acting a little weird the past couple of days — ever since Chowder had told them that Jack had given him dibs, and then Shitty had announced that his had gone to Lardo. Derek knew that Will had been hoping for dibs, however much he had been trying not to get his hopes up. Neither of them could deny that Chowder deserved them more than either of the two of them, or pretend that it was at all surprising that Lardo had finally received her place in the Haus. It made sense. But Derek was a little worried that Will was bottling up his real feelings on the matter so as not to upset Chowder.

“Babe,” he said, to announce his presence in the doorway to their room. Will twisted round to look at him. “Talk to me.”

Will looked back at his screen, and waved Derek over. The Excel sheet of numbers was hard for Derek to get his head around. “It’s my budget for next year,” Will explained, when he realized that Derek didn’t understand. “With the job at Stop and Shop this semester, and what I should make over the summer, along with they’ve now confirmed my loan for next year… I can afford a single dorm.”

Derek blinked. “What?”

“I’ve never had my own room, and I’ve worked it out and that’s one luxury I can actually afford next year.”

Will was looking up at him, as if begging him to understand. When Derek didn’t say anything, he continued, “Of course, that’s sort of relying on me being in the Haus for junior year, because it’s not something I can really maintain, but there’ll be three spaces coming up then, right? And Ransom and Holster— They’ll want to pass on to a D-pair, won’t they? Surely?”

There was a strain in his voice which made Derek wince, but he couldn’t tell Will not to bet on that. He was being reasonable. There was a good chance of him ending up in the Haus in junior year, and Will knew much better than Derek which investments were worth making.

“You don’t want to live with me?”

Will’s eyes softened. “I love living with you. But I’ve never had my own room. I just want my own space for once. I looked into it, and we can request to be on the same landing. Just one year and after that I’ll either have to live with you to be able to afford food, or dibs will decide where we are. We’ll still see each other all the time, and be at each other’s rooms all the time. We’ll still share on roadies, and everything. It’s just—”

“No, I get it,” Derek assured him, even though really he didn’t. He hadn’t even shared at Andover, so this year with Will had been a first for him. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like always having to share a space, especially for someone as private as Will. In fact, he mused, perhaps that was why Will was so private in the first place. “Let’s do it. It’s probably good for us to not always have to be right up on top of each other, anyway.”

Will wrapped a hand around Derek’s wrist. “Thank-you.”

Derek pressed his lips to Will’s cheek, then sat down in his lap so that he could take control of the laptop. It was about time that they booked their accommodation for next year.

 


End file.
